Due to the low Language Arts test scores recorded last year, new ideas are being implemented in Logan City School District this year to prepare children for the Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence test, which is administered in April and May.
In 2014, the first year the test was administered, the district scored 1.9% above the Utah state average in Science, and .1% above the average in Mathematics. However, they scored 2.3% below average in Language Arts.
“We’ve gotten students more involved and more engaged in more complex, higher-level reading, in particular with Language Arts,” said Daryl Guymon, director of curriculum for Logan City School District.
Guymon said the students who are struggling may not be pushed as needed to read more complex reading, with the support they need.
“We do a lot more close reading with support to help engage them more,” Guymon said. “We are involved in a lot more writing then we have ever been.”
Logan district has more students who come from lower-income families than Cache County School District, who was the top-scorer last year in the SAGE test.
68% of children in Logan City School District qualify for free or reduced price lunch and 33% racial minorities, whereas Cache County only has 42% who qualify for reduced lunch and 11.3% identify as racial minorities.
“There is a pretty big difference in what we are dealing with,” Guymon said.
Jen Green, a third grade teacher at Logan School District’s Adams Elementary School said she has been trying to focus on the new Utah standards.
In 2014 Utah implemented new state standards for schools in order to increase proficiency throughout the state and help students prepare for future life pursuits.
“We are making sure the kids understand the different things in the standards,” Green said.
According to Green, teachers are using a lot of graphic organizers, pictures and story maps to help students interpret difficult stories.
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